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Princess Birgitta of Sweden

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Princess Birgitta
Princess Birgitta in 1958
Born(1937-01-19)19 January 1937
Haga Palace, Solna, Sweden
Died4 December 2024(2024-12-04) (aged 87)
Mallorca, Spain
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1961; died 2016)​
IssuePrince Carl Christian
Princess Désirée
Prince Hubertus
Names
Birgitta Ingeborg Alice
HouseBernadotte
FatherPrince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten
MotherPrincess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Princess Birgitta of Sweden LoK av KMO (Birgitta Ingeborg Alice; 19 January 1937 – 4 December 2024) was a member of the Swedish royal family. She was the second child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and an elder sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf.

From 1961, she was a member of the Swabian branch of the deposed House of Hohenzollern by her marriage to Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern.[1]

Early life

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Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and children in the 1950s. Birgitta is second from right.

Born at Haga Palace in Stockholm, Birgitta was the second child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and a granddaughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf. She and her three sisters were affectionately called "Hagasessorna" (the Haga Princesses).[2] She was 10 years old when her father was killed in the 1947 KLM Douglas DC-3 Copenhagen disaster.[1]

At the age of 14, Birgitta was educated at Franska Skolan in Stockholm, followed by a stay at a Swiss boarding school. Prior to that, she and her sisters had been homeschooled at Stockholm Palace. In 1958, she graduated with a degree in movement sciences from Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences and subsequently worked as a gymnastics teacher at Broms School in Östermalm.[2]

Public life

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In November 1960, Birgitta visited the United States accompanied by her younger sister Princess Désirée on behalf of their grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf for the 50th anniversary of The American-Scandinavian Foundation. In their honour a ball was organised for the two princesses at the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel in Chicago by Mayor Richard Daley.[3]

Princess Birgitta in 2013

Princess Birgitta was involved with golf and charities outside of Sweden and was an honorary board member of the (British) Royal Swedish Golfing Society,[4] a position she took over when her uncle Prince Bertil died. She had her own golf competition in Majorca, the Princess Birgitta Trophy, at her home golf course.[citation needed]

In 1997, Birgitta published her memoir Min egen väg and on Christmas Day 2022, Sweden's national public service Sveriges Television broadcast a recent hour-long documentary and interview with the princess where she detailed her often troubled life as a Swedish royal.[5]

Marriage

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Wedding day of Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern in Stockholm.

In the fall of 1959, Birgitta moved to Munich, Germany, to study German.[2] Here she met Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern at a cocktail party. Their engagement was announced on 15 December 1960.[1]

The couple were married in a civil ceremony in the Hall of State of the Royal Palace of Stockholm on 25 May 1961. The bride's grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf, had hoped for a Lutheran ceremony, but Pope John XXIII forbade this. The bridesmaids were the bride’s sister Princess Christina and cousin Princess Benedikte of Denmark; the groomsmen were the bride's brother Crown Prince Carl Gustaf and her cousin Count Michael Bernadotte of Wisborg (son of Sigvard Bernadotte). She wore Empress Josephine's cameo diadem, thus becoming the first in a line of Swedish princesses to do so, as well as her great-grandmother Queen Sofia's lace veil which was also worn by her mother, Princess Sibylla, on her wedding day in 1932.

A Roman Catholic ceremony was held at Sankt Johann Church at the groom's family seat of Sigmaringen, Germany, on 30 May 1961. Birgitta applied to convert to Roman Catholicism when she married the Hohenzollern prince, but her application was rejected in wording which questioned her spiritual commitment to the change.[6]

The couple had three children:

  • Prince Carl Christian Friedrich Johannes Meinrad Maria Hubertus Edmund of Hohenzollern (born 5 April 1962 in Munich, Germany), married Nicole Helene Neschitsch (born 22 January 1968 in Munich) on 26 July 1999 in Kreuzpullach.[citation needed] They have one son:
    • Prince Nicolas Johann Georg Maria of Hohenzollern (born 22 November 1999)[citation needed]
  • Princess Désirée Margareta Victoria Louise Sibylla Katharina Maria of Hohenzollern (born 27 November 1963 in Munich). She married Heinrich Franz Josef Georg Maria, Imperial Count of Ortenburg (born 11 October 1956 in Bamberg) on 21 September 1998 in Weitramsdorf. They had three children before divorcing in 2002. Then she married Eckbert Georg Klaus von Bohlen und Halbach (born 24 March 1956)[citation needed]
    • Carl-Theodor Philip Georg Maria, Hereditary Count of Ortenburg (born 21 February 1992 in Lichtenfels)[citation needed]
    • Count Frederik-Hubertus Ferdinand Maria of Ortenburg (born 7 February 1995 in Lichtenfels)[citation needed]
    • Countess Carolina Maria Franziska Christina Stephanie of Ortenburg (born 23 March 1997)[citation needed]
  • Prince Hubertus Gustav Adolf Veit Georg Meinrad Maria Alexander of Hohenzollern (born 10 June 1966 in Munich), who served as page boy at the 1976 wedding of his uncle, King Carl XVI Gustaf. He married Uta Maria König (born 25 February 1964 in Trier).[7] They had two children:

Birgitta and Johann Georg separated in 1990, although they remained married. She moved to the island of Mallorca in Spain in the 1990s, while her husband continued to live in Munich until his death in 2016.[1]

The Princess and her children were passed over for succession to the Swedish throne when subsequent absolute primogeniture was established in Sweden in 1979 and 1980, and then only included her brother's descendants and her uncle Prince Bertil. However, as the only one of her sisters to marry a man of princely status, Princess Birgitta retained her Swedish style of Royal Highness,[8] a more senior form of address than that of Serene Highness, to which the Princes of Hohenzollern and their wives were historically entitled.[citation needed]

Birgitta was the godmother of her nephew, Prince Carl Philip – at the time of his christening, the heir apparent to the Swedish throne.[citation needed]

Death

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On 4 December 2024, the Swedish Royal Court announced that Princess Birgitta had died earlier that day in Mallorca, Spain, at the age of 87.[9] A private funeral is to be held on 15 December 2024 in the palace church at Drottningholm Palace. She will be buried in the Royal Burial Ground in Hagaparken.[10]

As Princess Birgitta was a member of the Order of the Seraphim, the Seraphim toll at Riddarholmen Church will be rung on the day of her funeral.[10]

Honours and arms

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Honours

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Arms

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  • Arms of Princess Birgitta of Sweden (1937–1961)
    Arms of Princess Birgitta of Sweden (1937–1961)
  • Arms of Princess Birgitta of Hohenzollern and Sweden (1961–2024)
    Arms of Princess Birgitta of Hohenzollern and Sweden (1961–2024)

Ancestry

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Princess Birgitta of Sweden, colourful and down-to-earth descendant of Queen Victoria". The Telegraph. 5 December 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Prinsessan Birgitta Ingeborg Alice 1937–2024". kungahuset.se. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  3. ^ "November 3, 1960 - 2 Princesses Will Visit Chicago | Chicago Tribune Archive". Archives.chicagotribune.com. 3 November 1960. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Latest competitions - The Royal Swedish Golfing Society". Rsgs.info. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  5. ^ Link for continued viewing until 6 December 2026
  6. ^ Roger Lundgren in Sibylla en biografi Bonniers Stockholm ISBN 9789100111120 p. 223
  7. ^ http://w.genealogy.euweb.cz/hohz/hohenz12.html
  8. ^ "Placering - Sveriges Kungahus". Royalcourt.se. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  9. ^ "Uttalande av H.M. Konungen med anledning av H.K.H. Prinsessan Birgittas bortgång". Royalcourt.se. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  10. ^ a b c "H.K.H. Prinsessan Birgittas jordfästning". Kungahuset (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  11. ^ Eilers, Marlene. Queen Victoria's Descendants. Rosvall Royal Books, Falkoping, Sweden, 1997. pp. 153–154, 157–158, 160–162. ISBN 91-630-5964-9
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